At the state convention this weekend in San Francisco, the likely GOP nominee for president was nowhere to be seen. Neither was the Republican Governor, re-elected last year despite his complaint that his party is “dying at the box office.” On Reporter’s Notebook, another independent bookstore bites the dust. We’ll hear about Dutton’s in Brentwood.

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At the state convention this weekend in San Francisco, the likely GOP nominee for president was nowhere to be seen. Neither was the Republican Governor, re-elected last year despite his complaint that his party is “dying at the box office.” On Reporter’s Notebook, another independent bookstore bites the dust. We’ll hear about Dutton’s in Brentwood.
Photo Credit: J.D. Pooley, Getty Images News

As the GOP’s most likely candidate for president, John McCain hopes to win California this coming November with the coalition of independents and moderates that re-elected Governor Schwarzenegger last year. But California’s Republican Party refused to allow independents to participate in the Super-Tuesday primary. Registration has now dropped to just 33% of those eligible statewide. In a letter to party leaders, Businessman Lawrence K. Dodge said, “[We are] eating our own in public.” He withheld 3-million dollars to pay off the party’s debt in hope that last weekend’s convention in San Francisco would adopt a more moderate platform.